Trump shooting latest: President lashes out at questions over shooter’s manifesto and blames Democrats for political violence

Family members reportedly raised red flags about the man accused of carrying out Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Prior to the shooting, suspect Cole Tomas Allen allegedly sent a manifesto to his family, reportedly prompting Allen’s brother to get in touch with the New London, Connecticut, police department.

Separately, after the shooting, Allen’s sister reportedly spoke with the Secret Service and Washington-area police.

She told them her brother had a tendency to make radical claims and had spoken of a desire to do “something” to fix present-day issues, a senior administration official told NBC News.

Allen had two handguns and a shotgun at home in Torrance, California, that he hid from his parents, she reportedly said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had a sharp response on Sunday for those linking Democrats to Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“America will not be lectured about civility by far right extremists in Congress,” the New York congressman wrote on X. “Particularly those who provide aid and comfort to hundreds of violent rioters who brutally beat police officers on January 6. There will be ample time to vigorously debate the issues of the day. Now is a time to unify.”

As The Independent has previously reported, recent acts of political violence have been carried out by individuals tied to left- and right-wing ideologies alike.

President Trump is sharing more of his thoughts and recollections about lasts night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The president described the first lady’s fear after gunshots were heard, which some attendees initially thought was a tray being dropped.

“I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray,” Trump told 60 Minutes in an interview that aired on Sunday. “She looked very upset about what just took place.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said political violence was a fixture of life, but singled out rhetoric from Democrats as especially dangerous.

“It’s always been there. People are assassinated. People are injured,” Trump told anchor Norah O’Donnell. “People are hurt. I’m not sure that there’s any more now than there was. I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats, much more so, is very dangerous. I really think it’s very dangerous for the country.”

The president lashed out at O’Donnell when she read from a portion of alleged shooter Cole Tomas Allen’s manifesto, which stated, “I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

The president called CBS News “horrible people” for asking a question about the manifesto.

“I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people,” Trump said. “Yeah he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody. I’m not a pedophile.”

“You read that crap from some sick person,” the president continued. “I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with let’s say Epstein or other things.”

As has become routine after major news events, conspiracy theories spread rapidly online in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

As WIRED notes, numerous users on the left-leaning Bluesky social network simply posted the word “STAGED” after the shooting.

Others on X, which tends to lean more rightward, claimed the shooting was a false flag operation meant to drum up support for President Trump’s White House ballroom project.

Right-wing content creator Matt Walsh seemed to mock these individuals in an X post of his own.

“So in summary we have a plot where all parties involved are working against their own interests with no real discernible benefit to any of them,” he wrote. “There is no evidence of this plan and it doesn’t even make any intuitive sense and the motives for everyone are unclear if not insane, but still I believe it because I’m a very smart person.”

People who knew Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen at his alma matter Caltech are shocked their former classmate is accused of attempting to attack the president.

“I’m pretty shaken up,” Sheila Murthy told The Wall Street Journal.

She described Allen as “somewhat reserved, quiet, and introverted to say the least,” during their time at Caltech, one of the nation’s premier science and engineering universities.

Adrian Costantino, who graduated with Allen, painted a similar picture.

“We were all a little weird, a little nerdy but he was even more nerdy,” he told the Journal. “But he was always nice and kind to people. When I heard about him being involved in this, I was like, holy s***, this is not what I would expect of him.”

White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen sprinted through a security checkpoint and nearly made it into the ballroom where the president, top cabinet figures, and large swathes of the Washington press corps were located, according to security footage and bystanders.

“His face was determined,” attendee Erin Thielman told The Washington Post. “Eyes wide open, mouth in line with determination. He was zeroed in and focused. I can’t get his face out of my mind.”

Allen nearly made it to a staircase leading into the ballroom, according to an analysis by the paper, but he was apprehended by security officers.

Late Saturday, President Trump shared blurry security video footage that allegedly showed Allen running past the checkpoint and agents drawing their guns.

Local leaders in Torrance, California, the home of White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen, are reacting with shock and dismay.

“The City of Torrance stands firmly against political violence, extremism, and acts of hatred in any form,” Mayor George K. Chen said in a statement late Saturday. “We reject attempts to sow fear or division, whether here at home or anywhere in our country.”

Dylan Wakayama, president of the Asian American Civic Trust, told The Los Angeles Times that Allen tutored students associated with the organization.

“They thought he was very intelligent, proficient in biology, mathematics and science,” he said. “They thought he was on the nicer, quiet side. They were completely shocked when I told them that this all went down.”

“I think all of us in Torrance would be shocked if this is the man who attempted to kill the president of the United States,” he added.

A man is in custody following last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack. But what was the motive? As investigators continue their probe, here’s what we know so far:

• President Trump will be on CBS’s 60 Minutes tonight to discuss the latest on the attack.
• The suspected gunman has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from Torrance, California. FBI agents are going door to door in his neighborhood.
• In writings sent to family members prior to the attack, the suspect described himself as “Friendly Federal Assassin”
• A manifesto found in his hotel allegedly revealed that he planned to target Trump administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest”
• Trump said Allen was “a very troubled guy” who “hates Christians”
• Allen purchased a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol from a store in southern California on October 6, 2023. On August 17, 2025, Allen bought a 12-gauge shotgun from another gun store in his hometown. The guns were purchased legally.
• Investigators determined that the suspect took a train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then from Chicago to Washington, where he had a hotel room at the site of the shooting.

• The Secret Service officer who was struck by a round was wearing a bulletproof vest and has been released from the hospital.
• President Trump said the shooting proves why the construction of a $400 million White House ballroom is crucial for national security, claiming it could prevent future incidents.
• The suspect will face federal firearm and assault charges and is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Monday.
• Buckingham Palace has confirmed King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to the US will go ahead as planned. They arrive on Monday.
• White House Correspondents’ Association president Weijia Jiang said the organization’s board will be meeting to assess the incident and will “determine how to proceed.”

In a preview clip from President Trump’s interview on tonight’s 60 Minutes, he admits that he “wasn’t making it that easy” for the Secret Service when shots rang out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because he wanted to see what was going on.

“I wanted to see what was happening,” Trump said when the Secret Service rushed in after shots rang out.

“And I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem.”

Republican lawmakers plan to turn President Trump’s call to create his ballroom after the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday evening into legislation.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, a freshman from Montana, said that this week, he will request unanimous consent for legislation to express support for the creation of the ballroom in the East Wing of the White House.

“It is an embarrassment to the strongest nation on earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our President, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations,” Sheehy said.

The president has made the construction of the $400m structure at the White House a top priority, despite the fact many Americans disapprove of its construction. Polling last year showed Americans were unhappy about the demolition of the East Wing of the White House for its construction.

But since the shooting on Saturday evening, when a gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was hosted, Trump and his administration have made the case that the ballroom is a national security priority.